About
Emma creates native-driven gardens of all sizes for residential and commercial properties. The process starts with a comprehensive site analysis and design, then installation, all done by Emma to ensure a fully cohesive result that feels settled in the landscape. Emma focuses on Naturalistic planting design, using bold drifts of natives planted closely together in groups, often with a matrix of grasses or sedges. These unique principals evoke the feeling of a natural and lush landscape.
‘Nature as we all dream it would be.’
The goal of every planting is to increase native plant communities, increase biodiversity, create resilient and long lived gardens that thrive in their existing conditions, reduce property maintenance, and create unique spaces that bring moments of ‘awe’ in every season.
Benefits of Naturalistic plantings using a minimum of 70% regional native plants:
Low maintenance. Perennial plantings can be weed-whacked in the late winter, leaving the debris for natural mulch. Additional bark mulch past the first year is never needed, since the tight plantings don’t allow space for weeds to thrive. Plants that need care throughout the growing season are never selected, for example, plants that require deadheading to look their best. By selecting plants that add value throughout the growing season, this eliminates the need to tend to the garden like you do in a traditional setting.
Minimal change to existing soil is necessary. Plants are selected to thrive in their existing conditions - soil and light. This means we don’t have to bring in large amounts of compost to amend the soil, and the plantings will hold up to our ever changing climate. By limiting the materials we bring to the site, we can tread more lightly and have less disturbance to your property.
Focus on plant texture and quality of light. The plantings become an ever-changing painting. Grasses have an etherial quality to them that capture the light in beautiful ways.
Similarly, native plants arranged naturally in large drifts not only provide optimal sources of pollen and nectar for pollinators and other beneficial insects, but also create gorgeous blankets of texture, creating harmony and a sense of calm in the landscape.
Most plantings are made up of ‘plugs’ - simply smaller versions of the 1 or 3 gallon plants you may see at the nursery, most are 2” wide. This is more cost effective and they will establish faster than more established perennials in larger pots and require less upfront watering!
